1835.] DESERT COUNTRY. 333 



the day we crossed a mountainous rocky desert, and afterwards 

 a long deep sandy plain, strewed with broken sea-sliells. There 

 was very little water, and that little saline: the whole country, 

 from the coast to the Cordillera, is an uninhabited desert. I saw 

 traces only of one living animal in abundance, namely, the shells 

 of a Bulimus, which were collected together in extraordinary 

 numbers on the driest spots. In the spring one humble little 

 plant sends out a few leaves, and on these the snails feed. As 

 they are seen only very early in the morning, when the ground is 

 slightly damp with dew, the Guascos believe that they are bred 

 from it. I have observed in other places that extremely dry and 

 sterile districts, where the soil is calcareous, are extraordinarily 

 favoiarable to land-shells. At Carizal there were a few cottages, 

 some brackish water, and a trace of cultivation : but it was with 

 difficulty that we purchased a little corn and straw for our horses. 



4th. Carizal to Sauce. We continued to ride over desert plains, 

 tenanted by large herds of guanaco. We crossed also the valley of 

 Chaneral; which, although the most fertile one between Guasco 

 and Coquimbo, is very narrow, and produces so little pasture, that 

 we could not purchase any for our horses. At Sauce we found a 

 very civil old gentleman, superintending a copper-smelting furnace. 

 As an especial favour, he allowed me to purchase at a high price 

 an armful of dirty straw, which was all the poor horses had for 

 supper after their long day's journey. Few smelting-furnaces are 

 now at work in any part of Chile ; it is found more profitable, on 

 account of the extreme scarcity of firewood, and from the Chilian 

 method of reduction being so unskilful, to ship the ore for Swan- 

 sea. The next day we crossed some mountains to Freyrina, in the 

 valley of Guasco. During each day's ride further northward, the 

 vegetation became more and more scanty ; even the great chandelier- 

 like cactus was here replaced by a different and much smaller 

 species. During the winter months, both in northern Chile and in 

 Peru, a uniform bank of clouds hangs, at no great height, over the 

 Pacific From the mountains we had a very striking view of this 

 white and brilliant aerial-field, which sent arms up the valleys, 

 leaving islands and promontories in the same manner, as the ; 

 does in the Chonos archipelago and in Tierra del Fuego. 



We stayed two days at Freyrina. In the valley of Guasco there 

 are four small towns. At the mouth there istte port, a spot 

 entirely desert, and without any water in the immediate neigh- 



